Creative Rehab

After writing those heavy words the other night I’m feeling much better – it’s like a weight has been lifted! I have had some amazing supportive comments and advice which have made me smile, thank you! Now I’ve got a clear head and I’m ready to tackle my creative block – It’s creative rehab time! I was on the hunt for new blogs for inspiration when I stumbled across a couple of posts by Veronica Dearly: On Beating Creative Block and Kill Self Doubt Dead. Both spoke so much sense to me – I recommend giving them (and the rest of her blog) a read.

At the end of my Frequency internship I was panicking about what I was going to do next. Both Sam (my internship mentor) and Chris (tutor from Uni) were telling me to do nothing: ‘Have a rest.’

At the time, it seemed like a strange suggestion – I like to keep busy and work hard so having a rest felt like laziness to me! How could I have time off when I had to strike whilst the iron is hot and get a job? But I did feel exhausted – Graphic Design students (alongside Fashion students) have a reputation for being some of the hardest working with a heavy workload and after 3 years, the all nighters and stress had taken its toll! So I went to London for a couple of days for my Inspir-cation and then it was time for me to leave Lincoln and move back home. I’ve had a lot of rest since being home – 2 months of looking and not doing. Reading blogs and clicking through Behance projects is great for inspiration but there comes to a point where you need to stop looking and thinking ‘I wish I had done that’ and actually do something! Although on one hand I feel like I’m failing at life as a jobless 24 year old, it turns out that sometimes it’s best to take a break – I now feel ready to get creative again.

The festive season has helped a little – I flexed my Photoshop and Illustrator skills to create my Dad’s personalised Christmas gift and some graphics for the blog. It was also the first time in ages that I have picked up a pen to draw – I doodled on Emma’s Birthday present parcel – I think she appreciated the effort 🙂 Small steps! Last week I started a project which I’ve been planning since the summer. I’ve not done anything visual yet, as I was collating data from 3 years worth of receipts, but I absolutely loved getting my teeth into some numbers and data – it’s been too long! I’m done with being scared now and I’ll blog about it soon, promise!